


Beifong's Sacrifice

by nikoline3481



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Cute, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Other, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:55:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28490496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikoline3481/pseuds/nikoline3481
Summary: A take on what's going through Lin's mind when she loses her bending. And what Toph's doing in the swamp while she watches her daughter get her identity ripped away from her.
Relationships: Lin Beifong & Sokka, Lin Beifong & Toph Beifong, Toph Beifong/Sokka
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	Beifong's Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> Please excuse some formatting issues in the text. I do not own Legend of Korra or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The bleak, grey sky frowned down upon the humans below. The heavens seemed to weep for them, tears falling in unrestrained downpour onto the hard earth. The clouds, enshrouded in darkness, crept below, closer to the ground, waiting for the inevitable. For the bitter end. 

Lin dropped to her knees before the sea of black-suited bodies and freakish green-eyed masks. The clang of her armor as she slumped onto the floor reverberated through her legs, the vibrations sending little pings of pain throughout her entire body. She groaned and curled further into herself before remembering where she was, who she was with. She straightened and glared up at the figure standing before her, hooded and masked. 

“Tell me where the avatar is, and I’ll let you keep your bending,” Amon said. 

Lin’s eyes widened. Her bending. She was going to lose her bending. The one thing she seemed to hold on to, the one thing that always seemed to be there for her. She set her jaw and looked back up at Amon. 

“I won’t tell you anything, you monster!” She struggled against her bindings, rage engulfing all other emotions in her mind. 

He seemed to smirk underneath his mask, his eyes glinting maliciously. “Very well.”

Everything seemed to go fuzzy for Lin, at that moment. Her fate was set. She was done, over. Her career, her talents, everything. She stared off into the distance, finally ceasing in her struggle against the rope as Amon walked around her. She exhaled shakily and closed her eyes, thinking, Who am I? Who will I be? What am I supposed to be without my bending? 

But there was something else nagging at Lin. Something she’d been wanting to push away for a while. Something she’d been telling herself was no use getting involved in. She’d only end up hurt, bruised, battered, broken, with nowhere to go except smash rocks and use her metal whip on members of the Triple Threat Triad. Not even that, anymore, she thought. 

And as Amon placed his rough thumb on her forehead, as she felt her one true love being ripped from her very body, she finally listened to the nagging. 

"I’m sorry I can’t be like you anymore."  
________

As a five-year-old, Lin had been such a ball of energy, rolling from place to place, laughing at everything. She never failed to make anyone smile. She was beautiful, a lifeline, and the light of her mother’s life. Even if she had no signs of being a bender yet. 

Toph was seated at the kitchen table, rubbing her swollen belly affectionately while Sokka massaged her feet. The soles were dirty and blackened, but Sokka didn’t mind. He smiled and kneaded her muscles gently. 

“Mama! Do you think I can bend like Auntie Katara? That I can make it snow just like her?” Lin asked, turning towards her mother with a big, toothy grin.

Toph and Sokka tried and failed to stifle their giggles, leaving Lin frowning. 

“What, what?”

Toph waved her hand at her daughter, gesturing for her to come forward. “Sweetie, that’s not actually what your Auntie Katara does.”

“Considering, your Uncle Sokka has suffered far worse than just a little snow,” the nonbender said, pointing at himself and shuddering. 

Lin paused and looked up at Sokka. “Well, then what does she do?”

“Your Auntie Katara can make water move. She can turn it into ice, she can make snow, she can make plants move.” He paused. “Huh. Now that I think about it, Katara’s not actually all that great.”

Toph glared at him. Then abruptly kicked him in the stomach. 

“Owww,” he groaned, almost tipping backward and falling off the chair. It looked like something out of a cartoon. Toph and Lin both erupted into a fit of giggles, holding their stomachs and wheezing. 

Sokka huffed and adjusted himself in his seat once again, pulling Toph’s feet back into his lap. “Jeez, it wasn’t that funny.”

“Yes, it was, Uncle Sokka.”

Anyone else might’ve scolded the girl for such manners, but Sokka leaned forward and simply ruffled the wavy black hair on Lin’s tiny head. The little girl blushed, curling into her mother’s side. 

The earthbender smiled fondly at her daughter, then asked, “Why would you ask something like that anyway?”

The five-year-old sniffed and dropped to her knees. “I-I just want to be like you, Mommy. You and Uncle Sokka both do awesome things! But I can’t do anything. I just wanna be a bender and move cool things.”

The two adults exchanged a look, Sokka pausing in his rubbing. “My little badger mole, wherever did you get that idea? Even if you don’t end up being a bender, look at Uncle Sokka! He did so many great things with me when we were both teenagers and he did it without bending. Just his boomerang and his space sword,” Toph said.

Lin’s face brightened. She ran forward to tug at Sokka’s tunic. “Can I have a space sword and a boomerang? Please, please!” 

The nonbender laughed and reached forward to tweak the little girl’s nose. “Not in a million years.”

Lin pouted and leaned onto Sokka’s forearm, her tiny wavy locks falling over his hip. His face immediately softened and he pulled her into his lap, peppering kisses all over her cheeks and chin. 

Toph grinned as Lin squealed and locked her arms around Sokka’s neck, planting a warm kiss on his scruffy cheek.

“Being a bender isn’t necessarily about moving cool things. As a bender, you’re using the elements that the spirits gifted us with. You’re using a gift that the spirits gifted you with. As a bender, it’s your job to use that gift to help people, to be a hero.”

The little girl gazed at her mother in awe, bouncing excitedly on Sokka’s lap. “A hero?”

“Hey, what are you saying? I’m not a hero?” Sokka exclaimed. 

Toph rolled her eyes and leaned forward as best as she could, considering her being eight months pregnant. “No. You’re my hero.” And she kissed him softly and tenderly, with Lin still on Sokka’s lap, squealing again. 

“Blech. Don’t kiss Mama, Uncle Sokka,” Lin said. 

“Why not?”

“Because it gives me oogies!” she yelled, clapping happily at the nonbender’s stubbly cheeks. 

Sokka winced, but laughed, all the same, pulling Lin close once more, hugging her tiny body to his hard chest. 

Lin hugged him back quickly, growing bored once again with the conversations as all five-year-olds might. She jumped off Sokka’s lap, sprinting over to the open backyard door. 

“Can I go play outside with the rocks again, Mama?” the little girl asked. 

Toph sighed happily and perched her feet on the edge of Sokka’s lap once more. “As long as you’re careful, Lin.”

Lin nodded happily, forgetting her mother couldn’t see this and ran off into the garden to dig up stones. 

Sokka turned his head to look at Toph, her head lolling to the side at the nearing prospect of sleep. 

“Hey, Toph?”

“Yeah, Snoozles?”

“Did you mean what you said?”

She straightened. “No, you’re not my hero, I lied.”

Sokka only laughed. “I knew you weren’t lying about that. I’m everyone’s hero,” he said, puffing his chest out. 

Toph rolled her eyes as best as she could. “Whatever, Snoozles. But what else were you talking about?”

“Are you really okay with Lin not being a bender? I know you’ve always wanted…”

Toph let out a breath. “I think there’s a part of me that’s always hoped for both of my children to be earthbenders like me. Just so that I could teach them all that I knew. And I think a part of me was also afraid that if they were also...you know…” She waved a hand in front of her face lamely. “They’d never be able to truly see like me. That terrified me.”

“But Lin’s fine. She can see,” Sokka countered. 

The earthbender nodded. “Yes, that’s a relief. But the reason I’m okay with her being a nonbender is because…” She turned her milky green eyes up to meet Sokka’s cobalt blue ones. “She’ll still have a chance at being amazing. Exactly like you.”

Tears filled his eyes as Sokka grabbed the earthbender’s hand. He smiled, saying, “Thank you.”

Toph furrowed her brow. “What for?”

“Anything. Everything. This. I don’t know...just...thank you.”

She grinned back at him, her expression warm and sweet, and squeezed his hand. “No problem, Snoozles.”

They stayed there like that, the sounds of dirt flying all over the yard, the clock ticking in the living room, Lin squealing in the background. And Toph’s hand stayed in Sokka’s as they slowly drifted off. 

They woke to screams. 

“Mama! Mama! Mama!” Lin shrieked. 

Toph flew out of the chair, stomping on the floor, sending vibrations throughout the earth to search for the five-year-old. But there was no need. 

A tiny ball of energy hurtled towards Toph’s knees, crashing into them with one last shriek. They both went flying against the couch on the back porch.   
Sokka was still blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he said, “What, what?”

“Mama! Guess what, guess what, guess what!”

The older woman, puzzled as ever, adjusted herself on the couch and pulled her daughter close between her legs. “What, darling?” She smoothed the hair back from Lin’s dirty face. The mother slid her hand down Lin’s arms, patting to feel her knees and thighs as well. “Lin, you’ve got mud all over you!”

“Mama! Uncle Sokka!” She gasped, pulling the nonbender to sit atop the couch as well. 

“What is it, Lin?” Sokka asked, growing the teensiest bit impatient. 

“I just moved a rock!”

Sokka looked at Toph who shrugged, leaning back and holding her stomach. “That’s great, honey,” she said, “But what-”

“No, no, no! Let me show you.” She clutched her mother’s hand in her own tiny, sweaty palm, dragging her forward into the backyard. 

Toph scoffed, panting as she fought to keep up alongside her daughter. She wiped the sweat from her brow as Lin stood, ready with a wide stance. “Come on, Linny, it’s okay. There’s still time before anyone can say if you’re-”

She paused as felt her daughter grunt and push her palm forward. The rock moved into the siding of the shed, dust clouding the ruins. 

“Ah, come on! I just built that- wait. Did Lin just...earthbend?” Sokka said, coming to stand next to a wide-eyed Toph. 

“Mama, mama! Did you see me, did you see me?” She said, jumping excitedly and grabbing her mother’s fingers once again. 

“Do it...do it again, Linny,” the older woman whispered. 

The little girl squealed and ran over to the heavy stones near the side of the shed. Once again, she got in her stance just like she’d seen her mother do and pushed her palm forward. The stones lurched forward in the air, skidding and landing at Toph’s feet. Lin shrieked happily, clapping her hands together. She sprinted forward, running to hug her mother and bury her face in her arm. 

Toph felt her daughter’s warm breath on the inside of her arm, ragged from running and jumping and playing. Before she realized it, her cheeks felt damp, and once the tears started a lump rose in her throat and she heaved a sob. 

Lin looked up at her mother and frowned. “Mama? Why are you crying, mama? I can earthbend! I made the rock move!”

Toph nodded and gave her daughter a watery smile. She leaned down, hoisting her into her arms, pressing her forehead into Lin’s tiny, pale one. The earthbender let out a chuckle, the sound breaking off into a soft sob. “I know, my little badger mole, I know. And I’m so happy.” She kissed her daughter’s forehead and cheek and chin and hair, hugging her tightly to her chest. “I’m so, so happy, Lin.” 

Sokka stepped forward to join them. “Is Toph Beifong CRYING?"

She smiled and shook her head slightly, turning to him. He enveloped them both in his arms. Lin always remembered how cozy it felt to be wrapped up in both Uncle Sokka’s and her mother’s arms. She giggled happily, kissing them both on the cheek and returning the hug. 

Toph set her daughter down, wiping at her eyes. Sokka grinned at her, even though he knew she couldn’t see it. He turned to Lin, then. The nonbender leaned down, his smile spreading wider than ever before. 

“What do you think, Linny? Should we celebrate tonight?” He didn’t wait for an answer, scooping her up into his arms and throwing her up into the air. Once more, happy shrieks sounded as Sokka roared and threw the toddler higher and higher, always catching her on the way back down. “My daughter’s an earthbender!” he yelled. 

Toph’s eyes filled with tears once more. And as Sokka leaned back down to place Lin at his feet, she placed her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. “Our daughter’s an earthbender.”

Lin smiled up at her parents, her heart bursting with happiness and excitement. And when she glanced up at her mother, the older woman’s face softening as she felt her daughter looking at her, all she saw was… was love. 

She hugged Toph’s legs, nuzzling into her mother’s knees with the feeling of never letting go. 

And she thought, 'Now, I get to be a hero. Now I get to be like Mommy.'  
____________

Far away from the bleak, grey, weeping sky, the swamp gurgled. The dirt shifted and groaned, the stream grew restless, splashing up at the sides of the river. The badger-frogs croaked pathetically, the sparrowkeets awoke and whined mournfully. 

Toph Beifong sat up in her muddy cot, wiping smooth grey hair away from her wet eyes. She touched at her damp cheeks, confused. A dream? A nightmare? She hadn’t had one of those in quite a while. She slumped onto her bed and seemed to think. A lump rose in her throat and she couldn’t help but sob. 

But why? she thought.

She walked outside, the darkness of the forest blanketing her as she stepped on the twigs and sticks outside her cave. She gasped and hobbled over to the nearest vines, grasping at the plant. The earthbender moved to sit atop the vines. 

Her eyes widened, the tears falling in a steady stream down her face now. Gasping for breath, she tilted her face to the sky, to the spirits above, and she closed her eyes. She sobbed again and reached down toward the vines, feeling her daughter in Republic City, slumped against the pavement, a sea of bodies encircling her. 

She wanted to leave. To go rub her beautiful daughter’s back and tell her she was sorry. She was so sorry she couldn’t protect her. She was sorry she wasn’t able to stop this, that she’d lost the one thing that had truly made her daughter who she believed she was. 

But her mind drifted off, finally remembering something. She gave a watery laugh and wiped her eyes. Tilting her head back up the sky, she couldn’t help but smile, no matter how terrible the timing was. 

“My beautiful daughter. My hero.”

**Author's Note:**

> I almost cried while writing this. Hope this puts you in your feels as it did to me. Happy New Year!


End file.
